• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.309-314
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• 2015

Multiwall carbon nanotubes are synthesized by using VLS mechanism for the application to $H_2$ gas sensor. MWCNT is not suitable for hydrogen gas sensor due to its low response to the gas. To enhance the gas sensing performance, multiwall carbon nanotubes are coated with $TiO_2$ nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscopy and Transmission electron microscopy showed that the synthesized MWCNT were well dispersed with the diameter and wall thickness of approximately 10-30nm and 5nm, respectively. The MWCNT sensor showed the sensitivities of 1.33-9.5% for the $H_2$ concentration of 100-5000ppm at room temperature. These sensitivities are significantly improved to 6.64-46.65% by coating $TiO_2$ nanoparticles to the MWCNT sensor. The mechanisms of $H_2$ gas sensing improvement of the MWCNT sensor coated with $TiO_2$ nanoparticles are discussed.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.303-308
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• 2015

Pd-functionalized ${\beta}-Bi_2O_3$ nanowires are synthesized by thermal evaporation of Bi powder using VLS mechanism followed by Pd coating and annealing. In this study, sensing properties of Pd-functionalized ${\beta}-Bi_2O_3$ nanowires sensor to selected concentrations of $NO_2$ gas were examined. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the nanowires with diameters in a range of 100 - 200 nm and lengths of up to a few tens of micrometers. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction confirmed that the products corresponded to the nanowires of ${\beta}-Bi_2O_3$ crystals and Pd nanoparticles. Pd-functionalized ${\beta}-Bi_2O_3$ nanowires sensor showed an enhanced sensing performance to $NO_2$ gas compared to as-synthesized ${\beta}-Bi_2O_3$ nanowires sensor. As synthesized and Pd-functionalized ${\beta}-Bi_2O_3$ nanowire sensors showed responses of 178% - 338% and 196% - 535% at $300^{\circ}C$, respectively, to 0.05 - 2 ppm $NO_2$. In addition, the underlying mechanism of the enhancement of the sensing properties of ${\beta}-Bi_2O_3$ nanowires by Pd-functionalization is discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.180-180
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• 2012

Heteroepitaxial GaN nano- and micro-rods (NMRs) are one of the most promising structures for high performance optoelectronic devices such as light emitting diodes, lasers, solar cells integrated with Si-based electric circuits due to their low dislocation density and high surface to volume ratio. However, heteroepitaxial GaN NMRs growth using a metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) machine is not easy due to their long surface diffusion length at high growth temperature of MOVPE above $1000^{\circ}C$. Recently some research groups reported the fabrication of the heteroepitaxial GaN NMRs by using MOVPE with vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) technique assisted by metal catalyst. However, in the case of the VLS technique, metal catalysts may act as impurities, and the GaN NMRs produced in this mathod have poor directionallity. We have successfully grown the vertically well aligned GaN NMRs on Si (111) substrate by means of self-catalystic growth methods with pulsed-flow injection of precursors. To grow the GaN NMRs with high aspect ratio, we veried the growth conditions such as the growth temperature, reactor pressure, and V/III molar ratio. We confirmed that the surface morphology of GaN was strongly influenced by the surface diffusion of Ga and N adatoms related to the surrounding environment during growth, and we carried out theoretical studies about the relation between the reactor pressure and the growth rate of GaN NMRs. From these results, we successfully explained the growth mechanism of catalyst-free and mask-free heteroepitaxial GaN NMRs on Si (111) substrates. Detailed experimental results will be discussed.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.61.1-61.1
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• 2010

$CuIn_{1-x}-GaxSe_2$ based materials with direct bandgap and high absorption coefficient are promising materials for high efficiency hetero-junction solar cells. CIGS champion cell efficiency(19.9%, AM1.5G) is very close to polycrystalline silicon(20.3%, AM1.5G). A reduction in the price of CIGS module is required for competing with well matured silicon technology. Price reduction can be achieved by decreasing the manufacturing cost and by increasing module efficiency. Manufacturing cost is mostly dominated by capital cost. Device properties of CIGS are strongly dependent on doping, defect chemistry and structure which in turn are dependent on growth conditions. The complex chemistry of CIGS is not fully understood to optimize and scale processes. Control of the absorber grain size, structural quality, texture, composition profile in the growth direction is important to achieving reliable device performance. In the present work, CIS nanoparticles were prepared by a simple wet chemical synthesis method and their structural and optical properties were investigated. XRD patterns of as-grown nanopowders indicate CIS(Cubic), $CuSe_2$(orthorhombic) and excess selenium. Further, as-grown and annealed nanopowders were characterized by HRTEM and ICP-OES. Grain growth of the nanopowders was followed as a function of temperature using HT-XRD with overpressure of selenium. It was found that significant grain growth occurred between $300-400^{\circ}C$ accompanied by formation of ${\beta}-Cu_{2-x}Se$ at high temperature($500^{\circ}C$) consistent with Cu-Se phase diagram. The result suggests that grain growth follows VLS mechanism which would be very useful for low temperature, high quality and economic processing of CIGS based solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.91-94
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• 2007

Single-crystalline $SnO_2$ nanowires were successfully grown on Si(001) substrates via vapor-liquid-solid mechanism in a thermal chemical vapor deposition. Large quantity of $SnO_2$ nanowires were synthesized at temperature ranges of $950{\sim}1000^{\circ}C$ in Ar atmosphere. It was found that the grown $SnO_2$ nanowires are of a tetragonal rutile structure and single crystalline by diffraction and transmission electron microscopy measurements. Broad emission located at about 600 m from the grown nanowires was clearly observed in room temperature photoluminescence measurements, indicating that the emission band originated from defect level transition into $SnO_2$ nanowires.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.288-288
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• 2013

Lithium-ion battery (LIB) is one of the most important rechargeable battery and portable energy storage for the electric digital devices. In particular, study about the higher energy capacity and longer cycle life is intensively studied because of applications in mobile electronics and electric vehicles. Generally, the LIB's capacity can be improved by replacing anode materials with high capacitance. The graphite, common anode materials, has a good cyclability but shows limitations of capacity (~374 mAh/g). On the contrary, silicon (Si) and germanium(Ge), which is same group elements, are promising candidate for high-performance LIB electrodes because it has a higher theoretical specific capacity. (Si:4200 mAh/g, Ge:1600 mAh/g) However, it is well known that Si volume change by 400% upon full lithiation (lithium insertion into Si), which result in a mechanical pulverization and poor capacity retention during cycling. Therefore, variety of nanostructure group IV elements, including nanoparticles, nanowires, and hollow nanospheres, can be promising solution about the critical issues associated with the large volume change. However, the fundamental research about correlation between the composition and structure for LIB anode is not studied yet. Herein, we successfully synthesized various structure of nanowire such as Si-Ge, Ge-Carbon and Si-graphene core-shell types and analyzed the properties of LIB. Nanowires (NWs) were grown on stainless steel substrates using Au catalyst via VLS (Vapor Liquid Solid) mechanism. And, core-shell NWs were grown by VS (Vapor-Solid) process on the surface of NWs. In order to characterize it, we used FE-SEM, HR-TEM, and Raman spectroscopy. We measured battery property of various nanostructures for checking the capacity and cyclability by cell-tester.